Hinkel urges Hoops to roar in Hamburg

ANDREAS HINKEL'S last trip to Hamburg was as a tourist to watch Walt Disney's "The Lion King".

Now the Celtic ace is back in the city and ready to roar into action to prove that the Hoops are no Mickey Mouse outfit in the Europa League.

Celtic's German full-back is a rare breed among footballers. He's ditched his PlayStation in favour of trips to museums.And when he embarked on a recent trip to the Northern German city he bypassed the notorious red light area around the Reeperbahn for a spot of musical theatre!

The 27-year-old has admitted that he can't afford to swan around like a holidaymaker tonight in the Nordbank Arena.With just one point from three Europa League games, Celtic lie anchored to the foot of Group C and in dire need of a victory.Top seeds Hamburg won a fortnight ago in Glasgow, but Hinkel wants revenge.

And on a night when he can catch the eye of Germany boss Joachim Low ahead of a World Cup year, is Hinkel ready to fight like a lion?

"Yes, that's a good story and a great headline!", chortled the German ace."It's a special place for me because I like Hamburg as a city."I have gone there, not just for football, but for different culture things as well, musicals and things like that.

"I went to see the Lion King there. It was good."It's different this time, though!"I went there for a different purpose in the past now I'm returning for my job.It's the same Hamburg, but a different trip. We have to give everything and concentrate for the 90 minutes. That's for sure.

"They scored in Glasgow without having many chances in the game.Because of that we have to be 100% focused on our job.. It was a shame that I missed the first game at Parkhead but you can't do anything about injuries.

"I think I played one of the first games of my career in Hamburg so it holds good memories for me.The stadium was one of the first to be modernised in Germany around 1998 ‘’

Celtic have never won on German soil seven defeats and one solitary draw against Werder Bremen in 1989 the poor away record.

Hinkel added: " Hamburg are a difficult side."It's not as simple as thinking that because they lost their first game of the season at the weekend, so you can win against them."But we have to win this to go through.

"You need to look at the table and do the sums, but for now we have to forget the calculations and just win."